Compartmented radio cabinet and closures therefor



H. RIETH April 11, 1950 COMPARTMENTED RADIO CABINET AND CLOSURES THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1946 272/227 7. imam fin r/f April 11, 1950 H. RIETH 2,503,635

COMPARTMENTED RADIO CABINET AND CLOSURES THEREFOR Filed March 18, 1946 i 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aim, o

Eran 7UP fi 010 /?/fr// z/zw H. RIETH April 11, 1950 COMPARTMENTED RADIO CABINET AND CLOSURES THEREFOR Filed March 18, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 as filo In mt bQMPA tionp I ia a 1;

' 'A'pplication Mar'ch is, 1946; SerialNo. 655,123 (c1. 312.4).

invention relates to a radio cabinet com. struction and particularly to acabinet-construe tion which will eflicientlymount a radio receiver;

a loud speaker, a'record playing device, and prom:

vide record storing space;

cabinet is provided having a top-compartmentinwhich the radio receiver chassis -is mountedand on the-front wallofwhich the radio controls are located. This top compartment overlies three: distinct vertically extending compartments which are defined by a pair of spaced, opposed, vertically extending partition members, the bottom ends of'which are mounted on a generally rectangular base and the top ends of which support the base of the top compartment. The center partition is utilized to define a compartment in which to mount the loud speaker of the radio receiver. The enlarged annular face of the speaker is disposed in a vertical plane substantially coincident with the front wall surface of the cabinet and the generally conical body portion thereof projects rearwardly into the cabinet. The partitions are each shaped so that the cross sections thereof substantially conform to the external shape of the loud speaker and thus the partitions may lie closely adjacent such speaker and hence provide a maximum volume for the two end coinpartments respectively defined on the other side of each of the partition walls.

' In accordance with this invention, each of the 1 N'riinRADIo'o BINEThND"I",if

[/C QI FEFQF Y Harold-.Rieth, Kokomo, lnd assignor toKingston r Products Corporation, Kokomo,Ind., acorpora-o:

rd player for loading or unloading of records end'compartments is open at its front and outerside and a closure member of generally L-shap'ed horizontal cross section is utilized to close or expose the end compartments. The closure members are each respectively pivotally mounted'to vertical back frame members which in turn are respectively mounted on the back corners of the base. The closure members are thus pivotally movable about a vertical axis between a closed position in which the closure members provide front and side walls for the end compartments, 7

thus" totally enclosing such'compartmen't andan openposition in which both the front and side" walls of-the compartment are opened and the entire interior ofthe compartment exposed 'fo'r ready access. 1

trically associated with the radio-receiver and/or of this invention 1163 in the loud speaker, upon -0ne-ofthe pivoted closuremembers. With such an arrangement, the open--- ing movement of the closure membenbr-ings the record player completely out of the interior' of the cabinetpermittingready-access to such-reca record player unit or for record storage;' g Q The specific nature'of the invention a's "well as*' thereon. In the'cl os'ed" position-of" the closure member, the' record player isentirely disposedwithin the corresponding end compartment ofthe cabinet and hence isnot only-out-of-sight,--but during its operation, the'noises attendant thereto, such as record scratch and other sounds a'ocom panying the changing of a recordparesubstan tiallymuffled by the'fact that the compartment within which it is disposed is completely enclos'ed by the associated closure member. The other end compartment may then be conveniently'utilized for record storage by the simple expedient of providing horizontally disposed shelves therein. Accordingly, a maximum utilization of the available space within a radio cabinet is accomplished by the cabinet construction of this invention.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved radio cabinet construe-- tion permitting utilization of substantially all of the enclosed volume of the cabinet to house elements of the radio receiver, a record player,'orprovide storage for records.

Another object of this invention is-to provide an improved cabinet construction for a radiophonograph unit wherein the control members for the radio are continuously exposed on the front face of the cabinet for convenient accessby the user while the record player unit is disposed on a movable closure member for a com- A particular object of this invention is toprovide an improved radio cabinet construction wherein the radio receiver is mounted in a compartment overlying the loud speaker, and vertically extending partitions conforming to the' configuration of the loud speaker separate the speaker from the remainder ofthe interior of" the cabinet and thus provide two large"voluniecompartments within the cabinet for reception of g other objects and advantages thereof will become-- apparent to those skilled in the art from the fol= lowing detail'eddescription of the annexed sheets of drawings which, by way of preferred exaiiiple only, illustrate one specific embodimento'f' the invention.

In the drawings:

\ li'gure 1 is a front elevationalview 'of"a more cabinet embodyingthis invention; showing the" 3 end compartment closure members in a partially open position;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational View of the cabinet of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged scale, sectional view taken on the plane 1IIIII of Figure 2, with parts omitted for clarity.

As shown on the drawings:

The cabinet structure in accordance with this invention comprises a generally rectangular base portion 2 having a front wall 4, rear wall 6, and side walls 8. At opposite rear corners of the base 2, a pair of upstanding vertical rear frame members I are respectively mounted which extend upwardly to substantially thefull height of the cabinet. In the central portion of the base 2, a pair of upstanding vertical partition members I2 are mounted in opposed, spaced relationship. For economy of construction, the partition members I2 are preferably formed from any suitable thin sheet-like material and are respectively supported by front, central and. rear partition supports I4, I5 and I6 which are respectively mounted on the base 2 in spaced upstanding vertical relationship. A vertical sounding board I! is also supported across the front central portion of the cabinet on front partition supports I4. It should be noted that the rear partition support members I6 are located much closer together than the width of sounding board I! and that partition members I2 are in part of curved configuration for a purpose that will be brought out later.

A front horizontal support member I8 extending substantially the full width of the cabinet is supported on top of the front partition supports I4 in a horizontal position overlying the front edges of the partition I2. A rear horizontal support member is supported by the rear frame members Ill and the rear partition support members I6 and overlies the rear edges of the partition member I2. A shelf 22 is supported in a downwardly inclined position by the front horizontal support members I8 and central partition supports I5.,

From the construction thus far described, it will be apparent that the shelf 22 and the vertical partitions I2 cooperate to divide the interior of the cabinet into substantially four distinct compartments, namely, a top compartment 24 of relatively shallow height and extending the full width of the cabinet, a central compartment 26 of generally frusto conical cross section and extending vertically from the shelf 22 to the base 2, and two end compartments 28 and 38, respectively, each of which also extends vertically from the shelf 22 to the base 2. By this arrangement, the top compartment 24 may be conveniently utilized to house a radio receiver, the central compartment 26 will house the loud speaker of the radio receiver, while one end compartment 28 may be utilized to house a record player and the other end compartment 38 may be utilized for record storage.

The radio receiver 32, which maybe any one of several well known varieties and forms no part of this invention, is conveniently mounted on the shelf 22. The top compartment 24 housing the radio receiver 32 is closed at its top by a top board 34 which is suitably supported on the top of the rear frame members I8 and by intermediate frame members 36 which project upwardly from front horizontal support I8. The side walls 38 and the front walls 40 of top compartment 24 are enclosed by artistically formed panel members. Suitable reinforcing gussets 33 are pro.-

vided as necessary. A panel type tuning dial 42 is provided centrally in the front wall 40 and the various control shafts (not shown) for the radio receiver 32 project through suitable apertures in the front wall 40 and are provided with operating knobs 44. Hence the controls for the radio receiver 32 are always exposed and immediately available for operation.

In accordance with this invention, the loud speaker 46 of the radio receiver 32 is mounted in the central compartment 26. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the shape of the loud speaker 46 is generally frusto conical and accordingly the partitions I2 are complementarily arcuately shaped so that the central compartment 25 has a cross section of general frusto conical shape which is of sufiicient dimensions to accommodate the loud speaker 48. It will be apparent that the aforedescribed shaping of the partition members I2 thus apportions a maximum possible percentage of the available cabinet volume below a top compartment 24 to the two end compartments 28 and 30. Loud speaker 46 is of course supported on sounding board I! with the large diameter annular end of the speaker surrounding asuitable aperture (not shown) in sounding board II. A grille cloth I9 conceals the speaker aperture.

From the construction thus far described, it will be apparent that the end compartments 28 and 38 each have open front and side walls so far as the fixed elements of the cabinet construction are concerned. In accordance with this invention, the front and side walls of the end compartments 28 and 88 are respectively formedv by movable closure members 48 and 58.. Since the closure members 48 and 50 each cooperate with their respective end compartments in an identical manner, only one of such closure members will be described in detail.

The closure member 48 for the end compartment 28 comprises a vertically disposed member of substantially L-shaped horizontal cross section. The cross section of closure member 48 is formed to substantially duplicate the contour of the side wall 8 of the base 2 and that portion of the front wall 4 of the base 2 which is included in the end compartment 28. Accordingly, the closure member 48 may be aligned with end compartment 28 so that the one side 54 of closure member 48 constitutes a side wall for the compartment 28 while the other side 52 of closure member 48 constitutes the front wall for end compartment 28 and further, the sides 54 and 52 of closure member 43 constitute respectively substantially an extension of side wall 8 and a portion of front wall 4 of base 2.

In accordance with this invention, closure member 48 is pivotally secured to the cabinet by means of a vertically extending, piano type hinge 56, having one portion 51 mounted on the rear face of the side wall portion 2540f closure-member 48 and the other cooperating portion 59 mounted on the rear face of the rear frame member I 8. It will be noted that the top portion 1 I of each rear frame member I8 is laterally enlarged to overlie.

the side wall portion 54 of closure member 48 and thus permits the side wall portion 54-of theclosure member 48 to lie substantially flush with the side of closure member 48.

venient and artistic handle for operation of the closure member.

It will be thus apparent that closure member 48 is movably mounted on the cabinet so that it can be selectively positioned in a closed position, wherein it substantially encloses end compartment 28 and the exterior walls of the closure member lie substantially flush with the side and front walls of the cabinet, and an open position wherein closure member 48 swings away from the cabinet about its vertical axis in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 3 and thus completely exposes the end compartment 28 for ready access to such compartment through either the front or side walls thereof. The closure member 58 is identically mounted relative to its end compartment 38 and accordingly exposes or encloses such end compartment 30 by pivotal movement between an open and closed position. Suitable resilient latches 25 may be provided to resiliently secure the closure members in closed position.

A record player unit 58 may of course be readily mounted in fixed relation within either of the end compartments 28 and 30, for example the end compartment 28 while the other compartment, for example the end compartment 30, is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal shelves 58 to accommodate stacks of records. The vertical spacing of the shelves 58 may be conveniently apportioned to accommodate a stack of records (not shown) identical in number with the maximum capacity of the record player 58, assuming that such record player is of conventional automatic type which will accommodate up to ten records at a single loading.

With closure members constructed as heretofore described, a particularly desirable mounting of the record player unit 58 may be obtained by mounting such unit directly to one of the closure members, for example the closure member 48. To accomplish this mounting an L-shaped bracket member 68 having horizontal flanges 62 has one arm thereof secured to closure member 48. Record player unit 56 is then suitably secured to flanges 62. With such mounting of the record player unit 56, when the closure member 48 is in its closed position, the record player 56 will be completely enclosed within the end compartment 28 which, as has been recognized by the art, is a particularly desirable arrangement inasmuch as the transmission of various noises associated with the operation of the record player,

such as needle scratch and the noises accompanying the changing of records, is substantially reduced, thus affording the listener improved quality sound transmission from the loud speaker 46 unaccompanied by extraneous noises. In the open position of the closure member 48, as shown in Figure 1, the record player 56 is moved to a position substantially completely out of the interior of end compartment 28 thus affording utmost ease of access to the record player 58 for loading or unloading of the records. Furthermore, due to the substantial vertical height of end compartment 28, the record player 56 may be located in the top portion of such compartment and thus at a very convenient height for the operator whether the operator is standing or sitting in an adjacent chair (not shown). Additional record storage space may then be provided beneath the record player 58 in end compartment 28 and a Vertical record support member 10 may be mounted in upstanding relationship on base 2 to support a stack of record albums 64 in the space between record support member 62 and the adjacent partition member l2.

Accordingly, it is apparent that a cabinet construction in accordance with this invention provides maximum space utilization for a radioloud speaker record player cabinet. Without impairing the acoustical location of the loud speaker, the described cabinet construction permits'the radio controls to be externally located for immediate access and further provides a mounting for the record changer which will completely expose the record player for loading or unloading and yet will completely enclose such record player for playing or non-use. In addition, a large record storage capacity is provided within the same cabinet. The over all construction is of such simple design as to improve the manufacturability of the cabinet. Finally, the construction of the cabinet lends itself readily to the production of a cabinet having a pleasing and artistic appearance.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction maybe varied through a wide range without departing from the prin ciples of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A cabinet for radios having a loud speaker comprising a base portion, a pair of upstanding vertical walls on said base portion disposed thereon in spaced relation intermediatethe ends of said base, thereby defining a central compartment adapted to receive a loud speaker therein and two end compartments, a shelf supported on top of said vertical walls, a pair of upstanding vertical back frame members mounted respectively on opposed rear corners of said base and extending above said shelf, a cover supported on the top of said frame members and cooperating with said shelf to define a top compartment adapted to receive a radio receiver, a vertically disposed closure member for each of said end compartments, means for pivoting said closure members respectively to said frame members for rotation about a vertical axis adjacent and parallel to one vertical edge of each respective closure member, each of said closure members being shaped to define front and side walls for its respective end compartments, thereby substantially enclosing said respective end compartment in one pivotal position and opening said end compartment in another pivotal position.

HAROLD RIETH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name I Date D. 127,155 Harman May 13, 1941 1,063,821 Mertz June 3, 1913 1,133,866 Leighty Mar. 30, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 222.358 Great Britain Oct. 2, 1924 

